Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Fruit Roll-Ups

About a quarter of my haul

Saturday was the very first day that Liberty Mills was open
for strawberries. We went there last
year to get our berries for making sugar free jam, and it was so fun, I thought
we had to go again. Never mind that it was 2 days before my due date, I’m not one to sit around when there are
berries to be had!

We got a 4 quart flat in an hour and headed home to make
jam… Till I got home and realized I was
completely unprepared for jam! Okay- plan b:
wash, hull, process, and freeze all the berries needed for a double batch of
jam. And now what to do with the
remaining 2.5lb? Well, I froze those
hulled, ready for smoothies. Then I
remembered the Martha Stewart video I saw on Swagbucks on making your own fruit
roll-ups. Yes please!

I cut the strawberries with apples because that’s what the
365 brand strawberry fruit snack has that my son loves so much, and because if
you had to buy the fruit at the store, apples are generally much cheaper (plus
if you are at Whole Foods with your kid, they will give you a voucher for a
free apple at customer service).

About half way through the cooking I decided the apples needed to be cut a little smaller if it was ever going to cook all the way through.

After cooking down, it was ready for the food processor.

Peel and chop apples and combine with the strawberries and
sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over low
to medium low heat for 40 minutes until thickened. Pour the fruit mixture into the food
processor and process till smooth. Dump
the fruit puree into a fine mesh strainer and strain back into the saucepan,
discarding any chunks that didn’t fit through the strainer. Give the fruit a stir, then spread them
evenly on a silicone mat on a rimmed baking sheet (If you don’t have a silicone
mat, lightly grease the baking sheet).
Bake for about 2 hours at 200 degrees.

I strained it into the pot so it could be stirred before being spread out on the sheet.

My husband gave me this mat for Christmas. It's been great!

Once it’s out of the oven, allow it to cool a few minutes,
then put parchment paper over the entire sheet, and flip it over. Gently peel back the silicone mat. Cut the fruit to the size you like (Martha used
a pizza cutter, but I thought a sharp knife worked just fine). Roll them up and store in an airtight
container for up to 2 weeks.

After baking. I should have tested it in the middle.

Ready to flip.

Well, this is how it was supposed to go… I just was not going to stir a pot for 40
minutes. I stirred it till it was all
combined, and I stirred for the last 10 minutes, but it meant that not as much
liquid evaporated as it would have if I had followed instructions. I also made the mistake of waiting to start
this process after Spencer went to bed, so by the time 2 hours in the oven went
by it was 11pm. It looked a little
sticky, but I thought it would be fine. Not so- the middle was still too wet and didn’t peel properly.

Flipped onto the parchment. Can you see how wet it is in the middle? It wouldn't even hold together properly!

I cut the fruit with a knife, then the parchment with scissors. I rolled them into long strips, and cut off pieces as needed for lunches and snacks.

Messy middle = delicious late night snack!

Despite my issues, this stuff is fantastic! Since the middle was too wet, I just ate it
then and there. Mmm. Before you cut the sugar (as I was tempted to
do), try a batch at regular strength.
Once it gets down to the final product it doesn’t taste as sweet as you might think. It probably would be great
with honey instead of sugar; I’ll probably try that on my next batch.

Close up of the final product. Delicious!

Try It

Well, it’s a little hard to compare since I ate a chunk
before I measured it in any way, but let’s say it’s about the size of 8 365
brand fruit snacks. That’s $1.36 for 8 snacks, or $.17 per snack.

Buy It

$.59 per 365 brand fruit snack.

Verdict

Definitely Try It! Even though it took a while, it was really
easy, and if I’d been a little more patient with the baking process I don’t
think it would have mattered that I didn’t stir for 40 minutes. Plus they are crazy good, and like the granola bars, I love that I can customize the size of my kid’s treat.

4 comments:

Lynn, I have no idea what they are in the store. The pick your own at Liberty Mills are $4 per quart, or $15 for a 4 quart flat that you can pile as high as you like. The owner was very sweet and even helped me fill my flat since Spencer was decidedly NOT helpful this time!

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About Me

My name is Laura, and I live in central Virginia. I'm an enthusiastic but untrained crafter and cook who likes to try new projects. If you have a project you'd like me to analyze, let me know! Leave a comment or email me at tryitorbuyit@gmail.com, and I'll see what I can do.